An average of 58 wins per season. Four consecutive trips to the playoffs. Two trips to the Western Conference Finals. Three straight seasons of leading the league in scoring. NBA Coach of the Year in 2004-05.
Those are just some of the credentials on the coaching resume of Mike D’Antoni. It’s fair to ask one question. With credentials like those, why is he no longer the coach of the Phoenix Suns?
After Phoenix was eliminated in 5 games from the NBA Playoffs by the San Antonio Spurs last April, the rumor mill started turning. The Suns allowed other teams to talk to D’Antoni about their head coaching openings. The Chicago Bulls and the New York Knicks came-a-calling, and on May 10, just about two weeks after being eliminated from the playoffs, D’Antoni accepted the New York job–for a lot of money. D’Antoni got a 4-year deal believed to be worth $24 million to take the reigns of the NBA’s biggest (and most expensive) dysfunction.
The stink of it is, team owner Robert Sarver and general manager Steve Kerr wanted to place more of a premium on defense and also wanted a deeper roster that would provide Steve Nash and Shaquille O’Neal more rest during the regular season and keep them fresh for the playoffs. Sarver and Kerr apparently wanted to hire highly-regarded defensive coach Tom Thibodeau, who had been with the Houston Rockets, to replace Marc Iavaroni, who became the head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies. Apparently Thibodeau was offered a contract, but D’Antoni scoffed, and instead hired his brother, Dan to take a spot on the bench. This was the story relayed by Sarver on Sports 620 KTAR leading up to D’Antoni’s Knicks making an appearance at US Airways Center. (Anybody else find a hole in that story? Dan D’Antoni had already been on the staff for two seasons.) Anyway, Thibodeau went on to be hired by the Celtics, who ranked 2nd in the league in defense, and won the NBA Championship.
The Knicks, who were the laughing stock of the NBA under previous coach Isiah Thomas, who had a 56-108 record in two seasons, are showing signs of progress under D’Antoni. They are 12-18, and 2 games out of playoff position right now. The Suns, with new head coach Terry Porter, are 18-12 and in 8th place in the tightly-bunched Western Conference.
Links from around the web about Mike D’Antoni’s departure from the Valley…
Here at Fanster.com, we’ll be spending the last few weeks of 2008 counting down the biggest sports stories in the Valley over the last 12 months.
Photo: Bill Kostroun/AP
On the morning of February 5, 2008, the Phoenix Suns were coming off a 118-104 win over the Charlotte Bobcats at US Airways Center. Their record was 34-14, and they were in first place in the Western Conference.
In the afternoon of February 5, 2008, everything got turned upside down. Phoenix traded All-Star forward Shawn Marion and point guard Marcus Banks to the Miami Heat for perennial All-Star, and 4-time NBA Champion Shaquille O’Neal.
For forty seasons, many Suns’ fans had bemoaned the need for a legitimate NBA center if Phoenix ever really wanted to be a championship contender. The best center in team history was Alvan Adams, who only stood 6 foot 9, and was known more for his deft high-post passing than his banging down near the basket.
Centers don’t come any more legitimate than O’Neal. He had won championships with two different teams, played in 14 straight All-Star games, won the Rookie of the Year Award, an MVP, won two scoring titles and was an All-NBA First Team selection 8 times. With apologies to Charles Barkley, he’s also the biggest global sports personality ever to call Phoenix home. But, at 35 years old, the question was, did he have anything left to contribute to a Suns’ championship run?
It took two weeks for Shaq to make his Suns’ debut. He wore the purple and orange for the first time on February 20 against his nemesis, and former teammate, Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. Shaq scored 15 points and grabbed 9 rebounds in the 130-124 loss.
In all, at least in year one, the O’Neal experiment didn’t work. The Big Cactus averaged just under 13 points and 11 rebounds in his half-season with the Suns. Phoenix was in first place when he arrived, and finished in 6th place, and were eliminated in 5 games by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.
Year two has been a different story, with a new coach in place, and a new focus on the offense going through O’Neal, Shaq has averaged nearly 17 points and 9 rebounds so far for the Suns, who are off to a 17-12 start.
Links from around the web about Shaq’s arrival in the desert…
Here at Fanster.com, we’ll be spending the last few weeks of 2008 counting down the biggest sports stories in the Valley over the last 12 months.
Photo: Ross D. Franklin/AP
Yes, you read that headline right. The Arizona Cardinals are a playoff team. Ken Whisenhunt’s team feasted on their division opponents, going 6-0 in the NFC West on their way to a 9-7 record, only the second time the Cards have finished above .500 in their 21-year stay in the Valley.
The Cardinals became the 2nd team to clinch a postseason spot with a 34-10 win over St. Louis on December 7th, and then slogged their way to two blowout losses to Minnesota and New England by the combined score of 82-21.
Arizona restored some fan confidence in week 17 with a 34-21 win over Seattle heading into the playoffs.
The Cardinals’ passing game enjoyed a stellar season, with Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin and Steve Breaston all catching more than 75 balls for over 1000 yards. Quarterback Kurt Warner, considered by many to be a leading MVP candidate, threw for 4583 yards and a team record 30 touchdowns.
Arizona will host the Atlanta Falcons in the first round of the playoffs Saturday at University of Phoenix Stadium. It will be the first home playoff game for the Cardinals’ franchise since 1947.
Links from around the web on the Cardinals returning to the postseason…
Here at Fanster.com, we’ll be spending the last few weeks of 2008 counting down the biggest sports stories in the Valley over the last 12 months.
He tops the all-time Diamondback lists for ERA (2.83), wins (118), and strikeouts (2077). He’s won 4 Cy Young Awards while wearing a Diamondbacks’ uniform. He was the co-MVP of the 2001 World Series, the franchise’s only World Championship. He’s pitched the only no-hitter in the team’s history. He’s coming off a season in which, at age 44, he was 11-10 with 173 strikeouts and a respectable ERA of 3.91, and he’s only 5 wins away from becoming most likely the last pitcher in baseball history to win 300 games.
So, why again is Randy Johnson going to be wearing a San Francisco Giants uniform in 2009, when he joins the 300-win club?
Johnson made it known that he wanted to come back to Arizona for another season, and told team officials that he would take a 50% pay cut to do so. The Diamondbacks’ brass scoffed, and came back with an offer many would deem insulting, so Johnson scoffed, and instead got a 1-year $8 million deal with the Giants. Johnson’s arrival gives San Francisco 3 Cy Young winners in their 5-man rotation, and optimism that they can compete in the less-than-stellar National League West.
Are the Diamondbacks that cash-strapped that they couldn’t scrape up $8 million to have the best pitcher in their history reach a storied milestone in the uniform in which he had the most success? The answer is apparently a resounding ‘yes’.
There’s still a chance that RJ could get his 300th win at Chase Field, but it would be against the Diamondbacks. Wouldn’t that be rich? I’m actually rooting for that to happen.
Johnson will be the last pitcher to reach 300 wins. Mike Mussina, who has 270 wins, and is coming off his first 20-win season, retired in the offseason. Jamie Moyer, the 45-year old junk-throwing lefty from Philadelphia is coming back, but only has 246 wins. The younger pitchers won’t sniff 300. Toronto’s Roy Halladay has 131 wins at age 31. He would need to average 17 wins over the next 10 seasons to get to 300. He’s not going to get there.
Links from around the web about Randy Johnson’s departure from the Diamondbacks…
The New England Patriots completed the 2007 regular season at 16-0, the first team ever to do so. Then they disposed of Jacksonville and San Diego in the playoffs, leaving them one win short of that coveted perfect season.
The Giants came into the Super Bowl as proven road warriors, having won their last 7 regular season games away from the Meadowlands, and three straight road playoff games at Tampa Bay, Dallas and Green Bay.
The game was hard fought all the way through, and in the fourth quarter, New England’s MVP quarterback Tom Brady hit Randy Moss on a 6-yard touchdown pass with just 2:42 left, giving the AFC Champs a 14-10 lead.
The Giants took over for their next possession on their own 17-yard line, needing a touchdown to pull off the greatest Super Bowl upset since Namath’s Jets stunned the Baltimore Colts thirty-nine years earlier. Facing a 3rd down and 5 from their own 44 yard line, New York quarterback Eli Manning dropped to pass, and under intense pressure desperately scrambled in the backfield, before heaving a pass downfield to a well-covered David Tyree. Tyree leaped and somehow pinned the ball against his helmet while being tackled, giving the Giants a first down at the Patriots’ 24. Four plays later, Manning found Plaxico Burress in the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown pass with just :35 left. The upset was complete.
Eli Manning, whom Giants’ fans were ready to run out of town near midseason, was named the game’s MVP, joining his brother Peyton of the Indianapolis Colts, who had done it a year earlier in a Super Bowl win over the Chicago Bears.
Naysayers will say, “yeah the ending was great, but the rest of the game wasn’t so hot.” Wrong. First of all, the rest of the game was very intriguing, and secondly, that ending was enough to qualify Super Bowl XLII as the greatest Super Bowl ever. From Eli to Tyree to the Patriots tasting defeat for the first time, this was a Super Bowl for the ages. Not bad, Glendale.
Links from around the web about the greatest Super Bowl ever played…
Here at Fanster.com, we’ll be spending the last few weeks of 2008 counting down the biggest sports stories in the Valley over the last 12 months.
Photo: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
The San Antonio Spurs ousting the Phoenix Suns from the postseason seems like a yearly occurrence. The 2007-2008 season was no different. Suns’ fans will forever have the image of Tim Duncan hitting a friggin’ three-pointer in Game 1 of the series to remind them of the pain that was the brief ’08 Playoffs.
How rare is it that the emotionless Duncan hits a three? He had gone 47 playoff games without making a three. His last one came in Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals against the Sonics. Yes, it’s been so long since Duncan made a three in the postseason, that Seattle still had a team, and they were good enough to make the playoffs. He’s also currently riding a streak of 116 straight regular season games without hitting one from behind the arc.
After sending Game 1 to double overtime on Duncan’s shot, the Spurs went on to win Game 1 117-115, and ended up winning the series 4 games to 1. It marked the 4th time in 6 seasons that San Antonio had chased the Suns from the playoffs. Ouch.
Links from around the web about the Spurs giving the business to the Suns again…
Here at Fanster.com, we’ll be spending the last few weeks of 2008 counting down the biggest sports stories in the Valley over the last 12 months.
This was definitely the most uplifting story in Phoenix sports in 2008. Diamondbacks’ left hander Doug Davis was diagnosed with thyroid cancer early in the season, and still chose to pitch while waiting for his surgery date. He won his final start before the surgery on April 8th, beating the Dodgers, 10-5. He even had two hits in the game. Davis returned less than two months later, beating the Braves 11-1 on May 23rd.
In an age where many pro athletes look for the easy way out, and seemingly miss time for the most illegitimate reasons, Davis missed less than 2 months dealing not only physically, but mentally, with a disease that could have killed him. The Doug Davis foundation was established in 2008, in order to assist children with medical, social and family needs.
Links from around the web about Davis’ courageous battle…
Here at Fanster.com, we’ll be spending the last few weeks of 2008 counting down the biggest sports stories in the Valley over the last 12 months.
Photo: Ross D. Franklin/AP
Ok, so this isn’t really a story, but it sure did generate a lot of press. A week after the Boston Celtics defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals, Shaq found himself on stage, in a New York club, armed with microphone and DJ. What followed was offensive to some, but I thought it was funny. Sure, it was sour grapes to the nth degree, but funny nonetheless.
The best part of the story was the aftermath, when on the local sports radio stations, we got to hear 35 to 40-year old white men use the rationale “that’s what freestyling is all about”. Huh?
Of course, it was followed by Shaq’s intense “I don’t hate Kobe” campaign. Shaq, it’s ok to hate Kobe…everyone else in Phoenix does.
Links from around the web about Shaq’s freestyle jab at Kobe…
Here at Fanster.com, we’ll be spending the last few weeks of 2008 counting down the biggest sports stories in the Valley over the last 12 months.
We know this technically isn’t a “Phoenix” story, but this was too juicy to leave off the list.
In 2008, Lute Olson saw his beloved Arizona Wildcats advance to a 25th-straight NCAA Tournament without him. He also fired two members of his staff (including his hand-picked successor), chased another one off to Memphis, announced himself back as the head coach, chastised a recruit who ended up playing in Europe, insulted another recruit who decommitted, convinced one member of his team to return to school rather than go pro, convinced another to stay in Tucson instead of transferring, got engaged again to a woman 25 years his junior, and retire just two practice days into the 2008-09 season. It also turns out he had suffered a stroke at some point in the last year. Health is the most important thing, so we’re glad Lute is ok, but man, what a strange year for the Hall of Fame coach.
After Olson retired, the University of Arizona wanted to promote newly hired assistant Mike Dunlap to the position of interim head coach. Dunlap wanted a long-term commitment, and the athletic department scoffed, and moved down their list, to Russ Pennell, a former Arizona State assistant who actually served as the Sun Devils’ color commentator on radio broadcasts a year ago. How’s that for strange? Pennell was viewed as the ultimate lame duck, but to this point, has squeezed the most out of his team and guided them to a very respectable 7-3 start, including an upset win over then 4th-ranked Gonzaga.
Links from around the web about Lute Olson’s strange year…
Here at Fanster.com, we’ll be spending the last few weeks of 2008 counting down the biggest sports stories in the Valley over the last 12 months.
Photo:AP
With all the Kurt Warner for MVP talk, it’s hard to believe that in August, the Arizona Cardinals were one game away from Warner holding a clipboard to begin the 2008 season. Head coach Ken Whisenhunt had made the off-season proclamation that Matt Leinart was his starter, and heading into the third preseason game against Oakland it looked like that was still the plan. Leinart stunk up the joint against the Raiders, completing just 4 of 12 passes for 24 yards and 3 interceptions in a 24-0 win. It seemed at that point, Whisenhunt had to make the switch. He did, and the rest is history. Warner has resurrected his career, and Leinart, in his third season, has seen mop-up action in three games, going 10 of 21 for 181 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception.
Warner is a free agent after the year is over, and has made his desire for a 2-year extension known publicly. Speculation is flying that if Warner gets the extension, Leinart’s days in the desert could be numbered.
Or who knows? Maybe we’ll be talking about another quarterback controversy in August.
Links from around the web about the Warner vs. Leinart quarterback battle…
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